Texas Tech soccer coach Tom Stone watched as his team relinquished a late 1-0 lead and allowed visiting Idaho to score an equalizing goal in the 79th minute.

He took a breath, looked at the clock and then thought: 41 minutes.

“We’re going to score in 41 minutes. We got 11 and we got 30 in overtime,” Stone said. “I said we’re going to score in 41 minutes. There’s no way they’re keeping us out in 41 minutes.”

Stone’s faith was rewarded much sooner than that.

Four minutes after Idaho leveled the game, Tech midfielder Paige Strahan took a shot from just inside the 18-yard box and beat the keeper far post, giving the Red Raiders a 2-1 win in their season opener Friday at John Walker Soccer Complex.

“Within four minutes ours team’s like, ‘No,’” Stone said.

The win marks the fourth consecutive opening-night victory for the Red Raiders (1-0).

Tech dominated the majority of the game until Idaho’s goal, keeping possession either at midfield or in the Vandals’ territory most of the second half.

But a miscue at midfield led to a counterattack by Idaho, and the Vandals had to take on only a pair of Tech defenders.

Idaho’s Chelsea Small launched a shot from beyond the box that Tech goalkeeper Victoria Esson deflected over the bar for her only acrobatic save of the game.

The resulting corner kick dropped right in front of the 6-yard box, and Chelsie Breen emerged from the scrum to put the ball away for the tying score.

“It was a shock, almost, because I felt like we controlled the game the whole time,” Strahan said of Idaho’s goal, “but I knew this team is just so great at not losing. We’re so competitive. I knew that the energy would rise and that we’d make something out of it. Idaho’s late goal nearly overshadowed the debut of freshman Janine Beckie.

The 18-year-old took little time showing her comfort at the college level, netting a goal 57 seconds into the match.

Strahan fed a through ball to captain Conner Williams along the right side of the box, and Williams crossed the ball along the ground to Beckie’s sliding cleats.

“Coach Stone told us to come out really hard and come out like we got shot out of a cannon, which is exactly what we did,” Beckie said.

The freshman led the team with eight shots, two on target. Tech outshot Idaho 22-8 on the evening (10-5 on target).

She nearly added to her total in the 53rd minute when she corralled a long ball and put it past a falling Idaho keeper near the top of the box. However, Beckie was offside and the lead remained at one.

The young forward pestered the Idaho back line all night, using her speed to run past the wingers and, on occasion, right down the middle.

“It looks like Janine is going to score every time she touches it because she’s so darn athletic,” Stone said. “I mean, she just flies by people like it’s nothing. So once she gets her nerves under control and is a little more relaxed in front of goal, I think one goal a game is the minimum.

Beckie has a quick turnaround to meet Stone’s challenge, as the Red Raiders host New Mexico at noon Sunday to complete the opening weekend. The Lobos tied TCU 1-1 on Friday in their opener.

Stone was impressed with his team’s ability to bounce back Friday night after Idaho had seized momentum.

“I thought this was a really awesome sign for this team to be frustrated because they knew they should be winning the game,” he said, “but when the other team equalized, we just turned up the volume and took care of business.”